Ukraine War: Only peace saves lives

“We have never experienced such a denigration of the will to a negotiated peace,” write Günter Verheugen and Petra Erler in their book on the war in Ukraine. Emotions and “blind passions” clouded the view, a German foreign minister trumpeted that Russia was “to be ruined.” The proclaimed “turning point” breaks with the principles (and traditions) of German détente policy. The “Siegfrieden” strategy subjects NATO solely to military logic. And a unique “wave of propaganda denounces everyone who wanted to stop this war.” Against this “war-hardened” (Pistorius) zeitgeist, the former politician Verheugen (formerly FDP, then SPD) and EU Commissioner as well as his colleague Petra Erler have now written a coolly analytical text against the war and its logic.

The authors make it clear that the war in Ukraine is “also a fratricidal war” in which “Ukrainians, Crimea and Donbass fought against the Kiev central government,” an “ethnic, internal Ukrainian conflict.” In addition, Russia must be granted “legitimate security interests” – “and yes, that also means the expansion of NATO right on Russia’s doorstep, the threat of which the West simply does not want to acknowledge.”

In his fiery speech on March 26, 2022 in Warsaw, US President Joe Biden praised the economic sanctions against Russia as “a new type of economic statecraft” “with the power to cause destruction equivalent to military power.” From the US perspective, an understanding was never the goal, the authors comment. They describe the proclaimed unity of the West as “vassal loyalty” to the USA. An independent economic policy by the European states or even mediation efforts from their ranks in the “Ukraine conflict” are therefore ruled out from the outset.

In March 2022, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was still trying for peace with France, China, Turkey and the USA – then at the end of March US President Biden issued the slogan “Regime Change” in Poland, meaning: Putin has to go. Ukraine has to wage a proxy war in the wake of the USA. This is what former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder disclosed, and it was confirmed in May 2022 by US political scientist Hal Brands.

A US Democrat, Adam Schiff, then chairman of the Congressional Intelligence Committee, had already summed up the role intended for Ukraine in a memorable formula in 2020 during his opening speech on the second day of the impeachment trial against Donald Trump: “The United States is helping Ukraine and their people, so that we can fight against Russia there and not have to fight against Russia here.” Such cynical statements by imperialist thinkers can be found in abundance, and they are also documented in the appendix.

According to Verheugen/Erler, Putin’s initial aim was to “wrest neutrality from Ukraine with a parallel strategy of military aggression and simultaneous negotiations (…).” When negotiations were broken off on the western side in spring 2022, this plan was destroyed. Since then, the war has been in a spiral of rearmament.

The West is concerned with “the strategic defeat of Russia,” the authors state. In such a case, however, “Russian nuclear doctrine” could be applied. “So a kind of ‘Russian roulette’ is being played in this war,” one reads in the book, “in which the fate of the entire earth may be at stake.”

The authors sum up the tragic entanglement in the Ukraine conflict as follows: “Just as Russia chose war in violation of international law in order to achieve national goals, the USA, NATO and EU chose to prolong the war in order to enforce political interests. Ukraine submitted to the game. The war therefore follows its own rules of escalation.«

The authors illuminate connections and backgrounds, shed light on decisions and developments in Germany, and ultimately the “collapse of East-West relations”. NATO’s expansion course is discussed, the Yugoslavia war is described as a “test case for NATO”, the “tug of war over Ukraine” and the scenarios surrounding the Maidan are described in detail. In the last chapter, the authors address the “role of Germany” and call for a self-determined path, emancipation from the position of USA vassal.

“From the USA’s perspective, it’s about securing its hegemonic position,” say the author duo. »From the Russian perspective, it’s about securing one’s own existence. These are two completely different interest categories. If you don’t see that clearly, you won’t find a political way out of the war.”

Günter Verheugen and Petra Erler are convinced: Peace is possible. All we have to do is finally disarm and negotiate. “Only peace saves lives,” they emphasize, “but refusal to peace gives rise to guilt.”

Günter Verheugen/Petra Erler: The long road to war. Russia, Ukraine and the West – escalation instead of relaxation. Wilhelm-Heyne-Verlag, 336 pages, hardcover, €24.
At the Berlin International Literature Festival, Günter Verheugen and Petra Erler will discuss with the refugee expert Gerald Knaus and the security expert Claudia Major on September 10th, 6 p.m., in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Schaperstr. 24, 10719 Berlin, side stage.

“The United States is helping Ukraine and its people so that we can fight against Russia there and not have to fight against Russia here.”

Adam SchiffUS-Demokrat

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